May 10/11 14:05 pm - 11 Canadians Listed to Start Tour of California

On Sunday, North America's biggest stage race will begin - the Amgen Tour of California (AToC). This year, 11 Canadians are listed to start, riding on five different teams.

Leading the list is Garmin-Cervelo's Ryder Hesjedal, the winner of the final stage of AToC last year. He will be part of a very strong team that includes David Zabriskie, Tom Danielson, world champion Thos Hushovd, Paris-Roubaix winner Johan van Summeren and Christian Vande Velde. Hesjedal is the only ProTeam Canadian in the race.

Canada's only Pro Continental squad, SpiderTech powered by C10, will have six of its eight riders from Canada - Svein Tuft, Ryan Anderson, Zach Bell, Martin Gilbert, Keven Lacombe and Will Routley. They will be joined by Americans Lucas Euser and Pat McCarty. Tuft, Anderson, Routley, Euser and McCarty are all fresh from the Tour of Turkey.

The other Pro Conti team with Canadians at AToC is UnitedHealthcare, who will start Christian Meier and Andrew Pinfold. On domestic U.S. squads, Rob Britton will race for Bissell and Nic Hamilton for Jelly Belly p/b Kenda.